An autonomous vehicle is a vehicle that is capable of sensing its environment and navigating with little or no user input. It does so by using sensing devices such as radar, lidar, image sensors, and the like. Autonomous vehicles further use information from global positioning systems (GPS) technology, navigation systems, vehicle-to-vehicle communication, vehicle-to-infrastructure technology, and/or drive-by-wire systems to navigate the vehicle.
While recent years have seen significant advancements in navigation systems, such systems might still be improved in a number of respects. For example, autonomous vehicles often encounter previously unknown road construction zones along a route to a planned destination. This can be inconvenient for the driver as well as the navigation system, which must then determine an alternate route to the destination. Furthermore, current systems are generally unable to notify other vehicles and users of the construction zone that has been encountered.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide systems and methods that are capable of detecting and accommodating the presence of road construction along a route. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.